Fall Creek

Henry Cowell
July 30th
2 hours – 4 miles
Jo, Barbara, Graciela, Jan, Paula, Julie

I wanted to do a quick, close hike on my first day off, so we decided to do Fall Creek. We met at Safeway in Felton and carpooled up the road to Fall Creek parking lot.

At the trailhead was a sign warning there were yellow jackets on the trail. We followed the trail down along the creek. It seemed dry even under the redwoods. At the “Y” we took the right hand trail and headed for the Barrel Mill Site. When we reached the turnoff some hikers were just coming out. They said they had stepped on a nest of yellow jackets on the trail and they all had gotten stung.

Barbara is very susceptible to wasp stings, so we decided not to take the trail. Graciela had seen the sign and thought someone had lost a yellow jacket. She couldn’t understand why that would stop us from taking the trail, because someone else had lost a jacket there. Eventually, we cleared up the misunderstanding.

We headed for the Lime Kilns. Barbara and I were in front and took the sharp turn to the left. Barbara sat on a log and I wandered around scoping out the best lunch spot. When I got back the rest of the group still hadn’t arrived. Since they had been right behind us, we knew they must have missed the turn off. Barbara and I went hiking after them calling “You are going the wrong way! Come back!” Eventually, they heard us and came back.

We had a nice shared lunch at the Lime Kilns. I hadn’t brought much food – but Graciela had a delicious sandwich for me. We headed back to the cars. It was a very short hike and people wanted more, but the two drivers – Barbara and I – needed to get back to town.

Everyone except Barbara headed over to Monty’s Log Cabin which was packed. The woman bartender got frustrated after a bit of indecision and change in drink orders. Jo was going to get a beer until she saw how strong the Bloody Mary was going to be, so she changed her order. The woman bartender scolded, “LADIES, get it together here.” We sat outside which was quite pleasant. I like this picture even if it is a bit blurred. Maybe how we were after finishing the Bloody Marys.

We then headed to Safeway and probably did more walking then we did on the hike. They are renovating the store – so we kept walking up and down the aisles looking for things. I was shopping for the Canada Day Party and kept running into everyone else as they shopped. Most fun I’ve had shopping in a long time.

Another quick sweet adventure with the hiking group.

Three Lessons Learned: Confirm time commitments before hiking. Don’t get separated at trail junctions. Be decisive when ordering drinks at Monty’s Log Cabin!